The FCC will likely vote in mid-May on rules for the emergency connectivity fund, said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during a virtual panel Tuesday with Allvanza, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, and OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates (see 2104060042). "We're going to develop a program based in part on the work we've done for decades with the E-rate program," Rosenworcel said: "We're going to borrow some of the tools from that plan and figure out how we're going to expand it."

ClearCaptions received conditional certification for fully automated IP captioned telephone service for up to two years, pending further verification that its automatic speech recognition-based service complies with minimum telecommunications relay services standards, said the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau in a memorandum opinion and order Tuesday in docket 03-123. The bureau also granted ClearCaptions' request to waive consumer certification and URL submission requirements.

The FCC issued cease-and-desist letters Tuesday to R Squared and Tellza for "apparently transmitting illegal robocall traffic." The companies appeared to have transmitted "multiple unlawful robocall campaigns that market auto warranties and credit card debt reduction service, or claim, falsely, to be from the Social Security Administration or other well-known companies," a news release said. The commission sent similar letters to six other companies in March (see 2103170061). R Squared and Tellza didn't respond to requests for comment.

The FCC's report and order on the COVID-19 telehealth program round two took effect Friday, said that day's Federal Register. The application filing window is expected to open within the next 30 days. The Universal Service Administrative Co. will administer the program's $249.95 million (see 2103300063).

ACA Connects asked FCC Wireline Bureau staff to limit Emergency Connectivity Fund support to schools and libraries not already receiving funding from other federal or state programs, including the emergency broadband benefit program, said an ex parte letter posted Monday in docket 21-93 (see 2104060042). Schools and libraries should be required to certify they aren't "seeking ECF support for students and patrons receiving connectivity and devices through other government programs that could be used for remote learning," the group said, because funding is limited and other programs exist.

Rural Health Care telecommunications program providers don't have to use the new rates database for funding years 2021 and 2022, an FCC Wireline Bureau order said Thursday in docket 17-310. "In the absence of a national rural Rates Database, we believe that the preexisting rules result in rural rates that most accurately reflect the current costs of providing service," the order said. The bureau also extended the service delivery deadline until June 30, 2022. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition petitioned the FCC to waive the implementation of the database in January. The order was "well-intentioned," but the "actual rates in the database could have eliminated any funding at all for many rural healthcare providers," said John Windhausen, SHLB executive director, in a statement. SHLB said it found evidence of "widespread problems with the rates database, affecting 42 of the lower 48 states, that could have tripled rural healthcare providers’ average broadband costs."

LTD Broadband asked the FCC to reject the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association's request to deny the company's long-form application for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, in an opposition posted Tuesday in docket 19-126 (see 2104010065). WSTA "has not shown that the Commission’s experienced and expert Commission staff cannot make a 'reasonable expectation' that LTD, or any applicant, is 'reasonably capable' of meeting its RDOF commitments," LTD said. WSTA didn't respond to a request for comment.

The FCC Wireline Bureau wants comments by April 19 on AT&T, DeltaCom and Windstream Nuvox Communications Act Section 214 applications to "discontinue, reduce, or impair certain telecommunications services," a public notice said Friday in docket 21-102. The applications will be deemed granted automatically beginning May 3, unless the agency otherwise notifies the applicants, it said.

Several state telecom associations want the FCC to review LTD Broadband's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application with increased scrutiny and, if necessary, reject it, in recent filings in docket 19-126. The Minnesota Telecom Alliance and Iowa Communications Alliance said there's "no indication that LTD has the technical, engineering, financial, operational, management, staff, or other resources" to meet the RDOF requirements for the locations it won in either state. If LTD can't prove otherwise, the commission should reject its long-form applications, the groups said. The Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association filed a similar request, saying LTD "will not be able to provide the requisite broadband service with the support it won in the RDOF auction." The company filed an opposition to MTA and ICA's petition, arguing the groups are part of an "off-key chorus of unsuccessful bidders disappointed in the outcome of the RDOF auction." LTD accused MTA and ICA of "pick[ing] out the winner of the largest amount of RDOF support and, relying on speculation, innuendo and surmise, call[ing] into question" its qualifications. "Attempts by some members of these rural ILEC associations to disparage LTD Broadband after failing to bid competitively in the reverse auction are transparently sour grapes," said LTD Broadband CEO Corey Hauer in an email. "This is not the FCC's first reverse auction nor is it the first time they have withstood criticism from angry mobs of losing bidders." LTD is "excited" to begin building rural fiber networks, Hauer said. "Demand for broadband is acute in these rural areas."

The Fiber Broadband Association plans to focus on increasing support for "symmetric gigabit broadband deployment" and opposing low earth-orbiting satellite deployment for rural broadband, CEO Gary Bolton wrote members Wednesday. SpaceX's Starlink, which won 85% of sub-1 Gbps awards in the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction (see 2102080072), "will not meet the performance requirements specified" and "does not provide a path to fiber," Bolton said. SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.